My 1995 Small Farm.

You need to go around from the back of the mountain to reach the mountain lake.

We must pass through the maple forest where egrets nest.

Chen Ling even joked with the lynx, saying that if these rogue birds dared to provoke them, he would have Afu and Ashou catch a couple of them to have some fun first.

However, after approaching the maple forest, they found that no egrets flew down to attack them.

Only the little egrets were cawing in their nests, occasionally sticking out their bald, un-feathered rear ends to defecate.

"Oh, right, I forgot about that. They must have flown out to find food for the little birds."

Chen Ling looked up.

The lynx looked around and said, "There are sounds coming from down the hillside, probably from the lake."

Sure enough, when we reached the lake in the mountains, a large flock of egrets were foraging there, calling out from time to time.

But the most eye-catching thing is not this flock of egrets.

Instead, it was a red-crowned crane with graceful steps.

Just as the sun was rising, the red-crowned cranes stretched their feathers on the beach and took their chicks for a walk.

These furry little creatures are no different from the two baby red-crowned cranes that Chen Ling caught and brought home.

Like the goslings in the village, they frolicked and ran around behind the red-crowned cranes, pecking at food and drinking water by the lake.

Very cheerful.

"Wow, these little cranes are so much fun too."

Wang Zhenzhen lifted her straw hat and jumped up excitedly.

Chen Ling was about to tell her to stop shouting, but it was too late. At that moment, a large male crane suddenly turned around, its folded wings slightly open, staring straight at them. It strained its whole body, ready to pounce and fight at any moment, and made a series of urgent cawing warnings.

"What are you yelling for? If you don't behave, I won't take you out next time."

Chen Ling glared at her.

Wang Zhenzhen immediately covered her mouth and dared not utter a sound.

Afu and Ashou also shrank their necks, taking cautious steps, as quiet as cats.

The lynx, who was standing nearby, was surprised for a moment, then wanted to laugh but felt it was inappropriate.

Seeing the red-crowned crane's wary look, he whispered to Chen Ling, "Let's release the baby cranes first and see if they still recognize them."

"They should recognize them. When we first took the eggs back, they even chased us into the village and flew around every day."

As Chen Ling spoke, he opened the cage and released the two baby red-crowned cranes.

The first thing these two little guys saw after hatching was people, but that didn't bother them much. They often swam and foraged with the ducks and geese on the farm and weren't very clingy.

It's not that they can't live without someone.

Now that it's been released, it first chirps and circles around on the ground, doing this a few times.

Seeing this, Chen Ling squatted down and straightened their direction so that they could both look towards the red-crowned crane.

The two little cranes have gotten used to being with the ducks and geese.

They weren't afraid of these large birds, since they were all much bigger than themselves and were enormous creatures.

So it chirped and ran over happily.

Several adult red-crowned cranes watched quietly as the two chicks ran over, showing little reaction other than curiosity.

The original few cranes, however, became impatient when they saw the two cranes running over, and one after another they rushed over and started jumping up and down to fight with them.

Surprisingly, the two baby cranes raised on the farm were exceptionally resilient.

Four of them attacked two of them, but they couldn't drive them away.

Of course, they were also quite stupid, not knowing how to fight back. They just shamelessly followed those four, chirping and running wherever they went.

The red-crowned cranes turned their heads, looking at the chicks from left to right, seemingly unable to distinguish them.

At this point, Chen Ling and the others were still worried.

I sat nearby and watched them for a while.

These red-crowned cranes aren't very afraid of people, but after what happened last time, they're less willing to get close to people.

They then led the little cranes away from them.

Along the lake, they not only find food for themselves but also feed the baby cranes.

Whenever it's feeding time, the original baby cranes and the two new ones still fight each other, and the adult red-crowned cranes will go over and lovingly separate them.

Seeing this, Chen Ling gradually felt relieved.

"Alright, the release was successful."

Chen Ling stood up with a smile and waved to the red-crowned cranes: "Welcome to come and lay eggs again next year! We'll help you hatch, and we'll pick you up and drop you off."

"Brother Lynx, what nonsense is my brother-in-law talking about?"

"Haha, your brother-in-law is a forest ranger, he's in charge of this..."

“Your brother Lynx is right, this is what I’m in charge of. Let’s go, take Afu and Ashou to deal with the families in the mountains who have more children than allowed.”

With a wave of his hand, Chen Ling was about to rush through the bamboo forest and head towards the western mountains.

While observing the red-crowned cranes, he was also checking for tracks of various wild animals and livestock in the vicinity.

At least five species of deer were found active near the lake, including grass deer, sika deer, and red muntjac, among many others, and they continued westward toward the mountains.

As early autumn arrives, the mountains and forests are filled with the fragrance of a hundred fruits.

After passing through the bamboo forest on the south bank of the mountain lake, the sounds of birds and animals in the dense forest on the western mountain became increasingly clear in the early morning.

In the past two years, wild animals and livestock have been mostly found in the mountains to the south, north, and west of the village.

When descending the mountain, people usually go down from the south and west directions.

The main reason is that the slopes of Nanshan and Xishan are relatively gentle.

The northern mountain is quite steep.

In addition, the hills surrounding Beishan now serve as the back mountain of Chen Ling's family, where packs of dogs are active every day, dividing up their territory.

Generally speaking, very few things appear in the North Mountain, let alone come down from it.

Unless, like the mountain donkey fleeing from jackals and having nowhere else to go, it would panic and run towards the farm.

Even though the number of wild animals in the mountains has increased sharply this year, with various deer and small wild animals such as foxes and badgers appearing frequently, they are rarely seen in the North Mountain.

Even if they exist, they are rare, or located high up on mountaintops.

Unlike the West Mountain and South Mountain, where you might encounter foxes with cubs or deer herds just by going up to chop some firewood or pick some wild fruit, this place is much safer.

"Bang-"

"Bang-"

At dawn, rays of sunlight shone through the forest.

Strange impact sounds echoed near the mulberry grove on the western hills.

Afu and Ashou twitched their ears, suddenly turned their heads, widened their eyes, and then slowly lowered their bodies, stopping gently and slowly, staring intently in that direction.

"Shhh."

Chen Ling also hurriedly told Shanmao and Wang Zhenzhen to be careful.

Then he took out half a deer antler, pointed it out, and indicated that there might be a deer over there.

The lynx made a gesture to indicate that it understood.

Wang Zhenzhen quickly covered her mouth, but her eyes were full of excitement.

She loves the deer so much that she's afraid she'll shout out in excitement when she sees them and scare the herd away.

After all, her brother-in-law had told her when they came over that these deer don't actually have that sharp eyesight; on the contrary, they have extremely keen hearing and sense of smell, and they will run away quickly at the slightest disturbance.

Sure enough. As they quietly approached, they saw two large male deer with beautiful antlers locked in a fierce battle, panting heavily, on a wide, flat meadow at the edge of the mulberry grove.

Beside the two male deer.

It was a large herd of female deer.

Some were grazing by themselves, while others were happily wagging their short tails. Some were standing, some were lying down, quietly watching the spectacle.

Wang Zhenzhen gently parted the bushes and took a look. Her eyes lit up with excitement, and she silently pointed over there and said, "There really are sika deer fighting."

Chen Ling and Lynx both nodded with smiles.

This is no coincidence.

It's not that they encounter it as soon as they arrive, while others don't.

But once the number of deer in the mountains increases...

This happens almost every day during this season.

Fighting between male stags is a common sight.

Like a wild boar.

Sika deer also mostly live in herds of females, with the mother deer leading the calves.

Throughout the year, male deer live solitary lives, only returning to their herds during estrus and mating season.

This season, approaching the eighth month of the lunar calendar, the female deer gradually begin to enter estrus. Their scent spreads out, attracting male deer to gather and compete for mates.

Consequently, male deer will fight each other, just like male wild boars, for mating rights.

"Bang-"

"Bang-"

The two stags were locked in a fierce battle, neither gaining the upper hand.

At this moment, Chen Ling suddenly stood up and shouted, "Damn it, something's not right! I almost forgot that we brought a tiger to hunt. How can we have fun if we're being so cautious?"

"Ah Fu and Ah Shou, get them there!"

His roar startled the entire herd, and the does glanced in his direction before turning tail and running away.

The two stags had by then gotten into a fight.

Hearing voices, he remained in place, momentarily stunned.

That is at this moment.

Two striped tigers leaped out from beside Chen Ling. They say tigers descending the mountain are fierce, and these tigers certainly had an extraordinary presence.

When they get serious, even a tiger fresh from the zoo exudes an aura that ordinary wild animals in the mountains can't match.

As he runs, he exudes an aura of dominance, radiating an inherent kingly majesty.

The two male deer were completely terrified.

Originally, Chen Ling and the two tigers were more than 30 meters away from the deer herd.

At this moment, the two tigers leaped out and covered more than 20 meters in the blink of an eye. Only then did the two male deer react, let out a cry of alarm, and turn to flee.

With a roar, Afu and Ashou relentlessly pursued the deer herd.

"Let's go, let's catch up."

Chen Ling swung his shotgun forcefully and charged forward.

Lynx and Wang Zhenzhen followed closely behind.

Despite her small size, Wang Zhenzhen grew up in the mountains near Fenglei Town, so how could she be afraid to run around in the mountains?
At this moment, she lifted her straw hat, swung her braids, and ran away as fast as lightning.

After chasing through the mulberry grove, they saw that Afu and Ashou were about to catch up with the deer herd, and they became even more excited, shouting and yelling behind the two of them.

It turns out that when these sika deer escaped, they didn't scatter and flee in all directions when disaster struck; they ran in herds.

Even two large stags that hadn't yet joined the herd followed the deer when they fled.

In the mountains and forests, such a large herd of deer fleeing in such a panicked manner would certainly not be as fast as if they were running separately for their lives.

This resulted in them being caught up with by Afu and Ashou before they could even escape the mountain.

The two tigers leaped and bounded through the bushes and grass of the forest, their massive bodies easily overpowering the tigers.

Moreover, they are much larger than these sika deer.

Two yellow figures moved like a whirlwind.

They easily outpaced these sika deer by a body length.

Ah Shou stretched out his front paws and pounced on a doe's rump, rolling her over and pinning her to the ground.

It bit the doe's rump so hard it was flattened.

The doe was kneeling on her front legs, struggling to get up and escape, but she couldn't break free and kept crying out in panic.

At the same time, Afu was not far behind. He chased after the deer from the side, bit the neck of a large stag, and without even rolling over, he used his mouth to pull the neck and pinned the stag to the ground with one paw.

The stag cried out helplessly and kicked its four legs.

But it fared even worse than the mother deer; Afu bit off its neck, and it quickly lost the strength to move its legs and died.

"Okay, great job!"

Upon seeing this, Chen Ling and Lynx cheered loudly and applauded in praise.

Wang Zhenzhen rushed over like a gust of wind, eagerly asking, "Did Afu and Ashou catch the fawn?"

"There are no fawns yet; they haven't conceived any fawns at this time of year."

Chen Ling smiled and patted his sister-in-law's head: "Don't worry, I'll definitely catch two for you next year, one for you and one for Rui Rui."

Then he and the lynx went forward to check on the prey.

When Afu and Ashou saw Chen Ling coming over, they grabbed their prey and dragged it to him with small, quick steps.

The lynx laughed when it saw this: "Haha, look at this little Ah Shou, he's so eager to take credit, the doe isn't even dead yet."

Ah Shou came biting the doe's rear end, which was now torn open and screaming in agony.

"Bite here, bite it to death quickly, give it a quick death."

Chen Ling couldn't bear to hear such pitiful cries, so he pointed at the deer's neck and told Ah Shou to bite it.

Ah Shou immediately pounced forward, grabbed the doe by the neck, and with one bite, the doe's neck bent over, and it was dead beyond any hope of survival.

The lynx crouched down and took a look. "They are two old deer, and the male deer is quite old."

Chen Ling nodded, not surprised.

The wolves, tigers, and leopards in the mountains prey on the old, weak, sick, and disabled.

Their strength wanes, and they can no longer escape the pursuit of predators.

"Brother-in-law, here's the knife. It's time to offer sacrifices to the earth."

Wang Zhenzhen took out her hunting knife and gave a reminder.

The lynx smiled in surprise: "Wow, Zhenzhen, you've brought quite a complete set. Do you want to learn hunting from your brother-in-law too?"

"Of course, I even catch snakes with my dad at home."

"You crazy girl, you're getting more and more excited as you talk."

Chen Ling flicked her on the head and said to the lynx, "We're not going to worship the Earth God anymore. Tigers are mountain kings, and they hunt deer. They eat what they want, so they don't need to follow our human rules."

The lynx was taken aback, but then understood what Chen Ling meant. It seemed that Afu and Ashou would be kept in the mountains from now on.

For a moment, I felt both envious and filled with enthusiasm. Leading tiger patrols and hunting with tigers, being a forest ranger is truly awesome.

After Chen Ling finished speaking, he squatted down and used a knife to cut off pieces of meat to feed the tiger.

At the same time, he taught Afu and Ashou how to eat live animals, how to eat, and where to start eating more easily. (End of Chapter)